The public has become increasingly aware of the risks of drunk driving. As drunk driving accidents have increased, the penalties imposed on drunk drivers have become more severe. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for a drinker or their passengers or friends to know when their blood alcohol level is at a too high level for them to drive. Typically, there are no readily available means for the public to test the level of alcohol in a drinker's blood to determine whether they should not be driving.
Any blood alcohol testing kit must have a number of features to be practical. First, it must be portable, so that it may be discreetly carried in a wallet, pocket or purse because its use will be mainly at social events. The testing kit also must be inexpensive so that individual drinkers will be apt to purchase the kit. Further, if the testing kit is inexpensive, owners of establishments where alcohol is served or companies that manufacture and/or sell the alcohol will be apt to purchase the testing kits so that they may provide customers with blood alcohol level testing kits as a public service. The personal blood alcohol level testing kit must also contain more than one test so that the test may be performed more than once in an evening to thereby measure blood alcohol levels over time to determine when it is again safe for the user to drive. Further, if more than one person will be travelling in the car, then each person can test their blood alcohol level to determine which one has a blood alcohol level below the limit where they should not be driving so that the most sober of the group can be the designated driver. The kit must also be self-contained, that is, all the necessary items, including instructions and any charts or graphs, should be included within or on the packaging. The blood alcohol level test kit must also be easy to administer-easy enough so that even after a few drinks, the user can perform the test. The test must also be accurate and reproducible and useable without the taking of the user's blood.
It is well-known that a person's saliva contains the same concentration of alcohol as found in that person's blood. One known method for determining the level of blood alcohol takes advantage of this fact by testing a person's saliva to determine blood alcohol levels. This method uses alcohol-sensitive pads that are formed from paper saturated with alcohol oxidase enzyme, alcohol peroxidase enzyme, dyes and a buffer. When these alcohol-sensitive pads are saturated with a person's saliva, they will change color according to the level of alcohol in that saliva. This change in color can be measured so that a certain, known color change, indicates a certain alcohol level. It has been found that measuring alcohol levels by this method, through the user's saliva, is approximately 98% accurate. This level of accuracy is much greater than the approximately 72% accuracy of measuring alcohol levels by a person's breath, as in a Breathalyzer.TM..
The above desired features for a personal blood alcohol level testing kit are met by a package containing an alcohol-sensitive pad. The alcohol-sensitive pads provide an accurate and reproducible means for measuring blood alcohol levels. They may also be cut into small pieces so that they may be portable and may be discreetly carried in a wallet, pocket or a purse. Further, because of their small size, more than one alcohol-sensitive pad may be packaged together so that more than one test may be provided in a single kit. The test using the alcohol-sensitive pads is easy to administer, only requiring the user to saturate the pad with their saliva, to wait a short period of time and to compare and match the color of the pad with the corresponding color to determine the blood alcohol level.
With all of its advantages, however, the alcohol-sensitive pads do have one significant drawback--they cannot be exposed to ultraviolet light, moisture, or air while being stored. Once they are exposed to either of these, the enzyme will deteriorate in approximately six hours and thus be useless to measure blood alcohol. By developing a package in which the alcohol-sensitive pads are stored while being protected from ultraviolet light, moisture, and air, a personal blood alcohol level testing kit could be developed having all of the above-described desired features.
Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to provide a personal blood alcohol level testing kit utilizing an alcohol-sensitive pad that is portable so that it may be discreetly carried in a wallet, pocket or purse, is inexpensive, preferably contains more than one test so that the test may be performed more than once or by more than one person in an evening, is easy to administer, is accurate, and does not require any of the user's blood.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a personal blood alcohol level testing kit that utilizes an alcohol-sensitive pad that is stored in a package that is inexpensive, portable and that can store at least one alcohol-sensitive pad without exposing the alcohol-sensitive pads to ultraviolet light, moisture or air.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a self-contained, personal blood alcohol level testing kit that utilizes an alcohol-sensitive pad that has printed on its exterior the instructions for administering the test and the range of colors of the alcohol-sensitive pads and their corresponding blood alcohol levels.